


Falling (But You're There)

by nerdqueenenterprise



Series: Star Trek Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Crying, Declarations Of Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, everything ends well don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 14:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12061038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdqueenenterprise/pseuds/nerdqueenenterprise
Summary: Jim gets nightmares.





	Falling (But You're There)

**Author's Note:**

> again, prompted by [@vulcankirkspock](http://www.vulcankirkspock.tumblr.com)! she seems to like me hurting characters :)

They start sleeping together sometime in the second year of their mission. No, not sleeping together like that, get your mind out of the gutter. (Actually, yes, also sleeping like that, but that’s not the point). The point is - it’s a completely new experience. For both of them. Spock had been less than enthusiastic initially, because while touches and hugs and cuddling and kisses felt more or less indescribably good, he had feared accidentally transmitting emotions to Jim, and he didn’t want to tax Jim thusly. 

Jim, on the other hand, had admitted that he wasn’t exactly delighted by the idea either, explaining that he got a “shit ton of nightmares, Spock, and I don’t want to keep you awake at night.”

He had been right. About the nightmares, that is.

Spock curls himself around his Human, carefully running a hand over Jim’s upper arm.

    “Shh-sh-shh, Jim, it is alright, you are safe, Jim, Jim, do not worry, there is nothing dangerous here.”

He had consulted Dr McCoy about Jim’s nightmares. The doctor had looked even more grim than usually and had explained that, “I don’t know whether I can tell you what Jim’s nightmares are about. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries with Jim, so maybe you should ask him himself. But they’re … bad, to say the least.”. He had also advised Spock on how to react in case of Jim having a nightmare. Say what you want about his occasional demeanor, he knows how to react when the matter is truly important.

And yet Spock seems to fail in his attempts to calm Jim. The Human is still making aborted gasps and groans, shaking and attempting to curl in on himself.

    “If you can avoid it, don’t wake him. He needs all the sleep he can get, and usually he can’t fall back asleep after a nightmare, and he’s already sleeping far too little,” McCoy had said, but Spock was rapidly running out of options..

    “No!” Jim says, entirely too sudden and too vehemently. “No! No!”

That is definitely enough.

    “Jim! Jim!” Spock shakes him, leaning over the Human and trying to will him awake.

Jim startles with a gasp, sitting up so quickly he almost slams his head against Spock’s. He’s panting, eyes wild and there’s sweat beading on his forehead.

    “Whatever you saw, Jim, it is not real. You are here, you are safe, there is nothing to worry about.” Spock moves in to hug Jim close, having found that physical contact often mitigates great emotional distress.

Jim groans and buries his head in Spock’s shirt. His shoulders are shaking, and he is making odd half-aborted sounds - oh. He’s crying.

    “Jim, Jim, please, do not cry, please -” So that is what being out of one’s depth feels like. Spock wishes he knew which protocol to follow in case of a person crying, what to say, what to do, how to hold them, but he does not.

    “Jim, beautiful, please, you are safe, you are alright -”

    “They’re all dead!” Jim chokes out, voice breaking on the last syllable. “They’re dead and I should’ve - should’ve -”

    “You cannot protect everyone, Jim. You did the best you could, nobody can expect more of you.”

Jim shoves Spock away.

    “Eight.” His eyes are rimmed red and brimming with tears. “Eight. That’s how many I could save. There were four thousand.”

Spock cups Jim’s jaw, wiping away the tears still spilling over. Jim hiccups and squeezes his eyes close, making even more tears run down his cheek.

    “I love you,” Spock says gently, almost surprised with himself. Of course he means it, but … he had not thought he would be able to tell Jim anytime soon. Evidently he was wrong.

    “What?” Jim’s voice goes up half an octave and he blinks up at Spock.

Spock’s ears are  _ burning _ . Jim probably does not feel the same way. Why did he have to  _ say  _ it?

    “I love you,” his traitorous tongue returns, and again, it’s a novelty. Never before has he acted so … illogically.

Jim stares at him as though Spock were speaking in another language entirely. 

Then: “Oh.”

His head is back against Spock’s chest before he can blink, but he’s not exactly crying anymore. Spock simply holds him.

  
  


    “You know nobody ever told me that.”

    “What are you referring to?”

    “You’re the first one to - to say you love me.”

    “I .... was not aware.”

    “I love you too. So much.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you liked it, please, please leave a comment - it'll make me write more stuff ^,^  
> also come visit me on [tumblr](http://www.nerdqueenenterprise.tumblr.com)! maybe shoot me a [prompt](http://www.nerdqueenenterprise.tumblr.com/prompts)?


End file.
